New Life for ex-Coty CEO

Ex-Coty CEO Camillo Pane is back in the brand-building game with Present Life, a portfolio of three beauty-meets-wellness brands. Two of them were incubated in-house. They are Healist Advanced Naturals, which makes CBD topical and ingestible products, and Loum, a skin care brand with a psychodermatology ethos. One was acquired — One Ocean Beauty, a skin care line that counts marine collagen as its star ingredient and donates a portion of its product sales to saving the oceans.

“When you're building brands in the wellbeing and beauty space, they have to be effective and must deliver on their promises. Natural brands often come with a tradeoff on performance, whilst the most efficacious products aren't always the kindest. This is a compromise that consumers no longer need to accept,” said Pane in a statement. “We use cutting-edge science to unlock the true power of natural ingredients, including rapidly emerging actives like CBD. Our consumer testing is extremely rigorous and we design and formulate to match the highest accreditations from the world's most well-respected industry bodies.”

Present Life is backed by The Craftory, a venture capitalist company based in London. But it's not kismet, it's business. Pane and The Craftory cofounder Elio Leoni Sceti are both ex-Reckitt-Benckiser executives. The Craftory invests in wellness-oriented CPG brands, including a plant-based alternative food manufacturer and a sustainable laundry detergent pod brand. The Craftory’s other cofounder is Ernesto Schmitt, who founded Beamly, a digital marketing platform that Coty acquired in 2015.

Loum debuts on September 1. Available only online at www.loumbeautycom, the line was developed with the help of psychodermatologist Dr. Francisco Tausk. Centered around the impact of stress on skin, Loum includes Tri-Serene Complex, a combination of CBD, marine-micro algae and wild indigo extract, in combination with other natural ingredients like borage and hyaluronic acid, to help calm and reverse visible signs of stress. 

Loum follows Healist, which debuted in April. The Healist line of CBD topicals and ingestible formulas sells  CBD topicals and ingestible products launched DTC in the US in April. It is planning a brick-and-mortar expansion as well as a move into Europe next year. 

Based in London and San Francisco, The Craftory is a $375 million global investment fund focused exclusively on amplifying consumer brands. The group offers permanent, early stage and growth capital (Series A, Series B etc.) to mission-driven consumer brands, and says it invesst in companies offering products that positively impact the categories they serve, society, and the planet.